Weaving machine



March 1, 1966 Filed July 15, 1963 H. FEN D WEAVING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 1, 1966 FEND 3,237,649

WEAVING MACHINE Filed July 15 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 1, 1966 H. FEND WEAVING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 15, 1963 www La/a United States Patent 3,237,649 WEAVlNG MACHINE Heinrich Feud, Regensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to Verwaltungsgesellschaft der Werkzeugmaschiuenfabrik Oerlikon, Zurich, Switzerland Filed July 15, 1963, Ser. No. 294,970 Claims priority, application Switzerland, July 30, 1962, 9,118/ 62 Claims. (Cl. 139-12) The present invention relates to textile machinery and more particularly to means, in such machinery, for picking up, displacing and/or retaining the end of a length of yarn from a moving body. Still more particularly though not exclusively, the invention relates to means in weaving machines for picking up the end of a length of weft yarn from a moving shuttle containing said length of weft yarn before the shuttle enters a shed formed by warp threads, for displacing the said end of the length of yarn to the beat up line of the weave and for retaining it until anadjacent portion of the yarn has been tied into the weave.

It is known in textile machinery to pick up and retain the end of a yarn by means of a nipper which is capable of closing and opening for picking up and releasing the yarn. Gripping devices are also known in which a nipping member is run after a yarn end projecting from a moving shuttle. This already calls for considerable rigidity and resistance of the parts of the device and for high accuracy in the synchronization of the opening and closing movements of the nipping member with its running after the yarn end. If it is required, moreover, to displace the yarn end towards the beat-up line of the weave after it has been gripped, the means and materials hitherto available are no longer able to cope with the great acceleration and deceleration forces resulting from the rapid reciprocating movement of the nipping member. It would call for uneconomical measures to meet the said requirements.

The present invention has for its object to provide a yarn pick-up device the parts of which move at uniform speed and which therefore are not subject to such acceleration forces and therefore must not meet exceptional requirements as to rigidity and resistance.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this kind which will not subject the yarn to high stresses.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device of the said kind which is capable of operating at higher speeds than the devices hitherto used for the same purpose.

, An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view from above, of a device provided in a weaving machine for picking up the end of a weft-yarn from a moving shuttle and displacing it into the beat up line of the weave while retaining it until an adjacent portion has been tied into the weave;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical section, at a much enlarged scale, through the tip of a shuttle in the device of FIG- ICC 5. The portion of the belt 3 which is comprised between the roller 4 and the transfer pulley 5 and which runs onto the latter forms therewith a convergent nip 6. That portion of the belt 3 is twisted through in such a manner that ahead of the nip 6 at which the belt runs onto the transfer pulley 5, the distance between the belt and the surface of the pulley 5 is greater at the bottom edge of the belt than at its upper edge, that is, the face of the belt which is to contact the surface of the pulley forms with the latter an angle opening downwards.

The described device is arranged in such a manner with reference to the weaving machine that the said nip 6 of the belt 3 with the transfer pulley 5 is situated above the path 7 of the shuttle 8 ahead of the point at which the latter enters the shed formed by the warp thread 16. The point at which the belt runs off this pulley 5, forming therewith a divergent nip is situated at the same level as the nip 6 and is laterally displaced with reference to the shuttle path; it is substantially in alignment with the beginning of the beat up line 17 near the beat up point of the first beat up member 18.

The shuttles 8 are moved along their path 7 in the direction of the arrow 9 in uniform spacing from each other in a manner not to be described here in detail. Each shuttle has a cavity 10 which contains a length of weft yarn 11 cut to correspond with the width of the weave. A short front end portion of the yarn initially is in the shape of an irregular coil 13 in a vertical crossbore 14 of the shuttle, this being assumed, for the purpose of illustration, to be a flattened modification of the cylindrical shuttle represented in FIGURE 4 of United States patent application, Serial No. 206,609, filed July 2, 1962, by Heinrich Fend and Hans Hentz. However, it would be possible to use any other type of shuttle adapted for receiving a length of yarn and in which one end of this length of yarn is disposed in such a manner that it can be carried off by a jet of air.

Below the shuttle track 7 and in alignment with the path followed by the cross-bore 14, there are three jet nozzles 15a, 15b and 15c through which short squalls of air are blown, in synchronism with each passage of a shuttle along the track 7, against the shuttle and through its said cross-bore 14.

Between the warp threads, a series of beat up members are individually movable in turn towards the beat up line 17 and back from it. These beat up members are indicated only symbolically at 18 and for detailed description of their design and operation, as well as of the design of the portions of the shuttles cooperating with them, reference should be made to my two copending United States patent applications Ser. Nos. 294,971 and 294,980 of even date herewith, both entitled Weaving Machine.

Shortly after each welt yarn has been beaten up onto the preceding at the beat up line 17 by one of the beat up members 18, means not shown in the present drawings cause at least some of the warp threads 16 in the vicinity of the beat up point to change their mutual positions in order to tie into the weave the weft yarn which has just been beaten up. Then, the beat up member may be retracted from the beat up line 17 as required for the passage of a subsequent shuttle in a newly formed shed.

The described device operates as follows:

As soon as the cross-bore 14 of any one shuttle 8 comes into alignment, in succession, with the three air jet nozzles 15a, 15b and 150, a squall of air delivered through them at that moment blows the front end portion 12 of the yarn out of the cross-bore 14 so that it will project from the shuttle and be spread substantially upright. This erected yarn end portion thus reaches the nip 6 or which the belt 3 runs onto the transfer pulley 5, and there it is seized between the pulley 5 and the belt 3 which at that place runs at a small angle from the direction in which the shuttles 8 are travelling (shuttle portion a in FIGURE 4.) Engagement of the yarn end portion 12 and its seizing between the belt 3 and the pulley 5 is facilitated by the fact that the portion of the belt which runs onto the pulley 5 is twisted whereby it constantly presents the same face to the yarn end 12, that it crosses the path of the shuttle 8, of its cross-bore 14 and of the yarn end 12, in a flat position and at a level higher than the lower edge of the pulley circumference, and that it moreover defines with the latter a wedge-shaped space the width of which decreases upwardly.

While the considered shuttle 8 then continues its movement along the straight track 7 parallel to the beat up line 17, the yarn end portion 12 is retained between the belt 3 and the transfer pulley 5, whereby the yarn 11 is gradually drawn out of the cavity 10 of the shuttle. Due to the rotation of the transfer pulley 5, the yarn end portion 12 is carried away along an arcuate path and is imparted a transfer movement directed towards the beat up line 17. As can be seen in FIGURE 4, the subsequent portion of the yarn 11 which has been drawn out of the shuttle 8 is then swung into a position in which it extends from the shuttle to the beat up line obliquely to the rear with reference to the shuttle path (from shuttle position b to shuttle position c). Thereafter, as its length increases, it is displaced towards the said beat up line substantially at right angles to its length (shuttle positions to d).

Just before the point at which the belt 3 runs off the pulley 5, the end portion 12 of the yarn maintained between the belt and the pulley reaches a point in front of the beginning of the beat up line, whereupon the adjacent portion of the yarn is beaten up against the weave at the beat up line 17 by the first beat up member and eventually by one or more subsequent beat up members, whereupon at least some of the warp threads adjacent to which the weft yarn has been beaten up change their position to tie the considered Weft yarn into the fabric (shuttle positions d to e). As soon as the yarn 11 has been tied into the weave over a sufficient length, its end portion 12 is released by passing the point where the belt leaves the surface of the pulley 5, and it forms a free tail 20 laterally at the selvedge 19 of the weave. The beat up members 18 which have been effective eventually retract from the beat up line to clear the way for entry of another length of weft yarn by the next following shuttle. Further beat up members 18 beat the remainder of the considered length of weft yarn 11 against the beat up line 17 of the weave as this yarn is delivered from the shuttle 8, and this yarn is progressively tied into the weave behind the point of heat up.

Meanwhile, the end portion 12 of another length of yarn has been picked up between the belt 3 and the transfer pulley 5 from the next following shuttle, and transferred to the beginning of the beat up line, whereupon the beating up and tying in of that other length of yarn proceeds are described.

The described device for picking up the end portion 12 of each length of weft yarn 11 and for transferring it to the beat up line 17, which device comprises the belt 3 and the transfer pulley 5, has the advantage of having no reciprocating parts, so that excepting easily controllable centrifugal forces, no acceleration or deceleration forces occur. The end portion 12 of the yarn is trans- 4 ferred from the nip 6, at which it is picked up from the shuttle by the device, to the beat up line Without any change of its absolute speed and with only a gradual change of direction. Accordingly, if the speed of the belt 3 is properly related to that of the shuttles 8, jerklike solicitations on the weft yarn are entirely avoided.

It is possible, therefore, to apply the starting ends of a very high number of lengths of weft yarn per unit of time to the beginning of the respective beat up line of the web.

I claim:

1. In a textile machine, a device for picking up, displacing and retaining one end of a length of yarn from a moving body, which device comprises at least two pulleys, an endless belt running over said pulleys and forming a nip with the peripheral surface of one of them, and means for guiding the said end of the length of yarn into the said nip. 7

2. In a weaving machine, a device for picking up the end of a length of weft yarn from a moving shuttle containing said length of yarn before the shuttle enters a shed formed by warp threads, for displacing the said end of the length of yarn to the beat up line of the weave, and for retaining it until a portion of the yarn has been tied into the weave, which device comprises at least two pulleys, an endless belt running over said pulleys and forming a convergent nip and a divergent nip with the peripheral surface one of said pulleys, and means for guiding the said end of the length of yarn into the said convergent nip, said divergent nip starting at a point of the peripheral surface of said one pulley substantially in alignment with said heat up line adjacent the beginning thereof.

3. In a textile machine the device as claimed in claim 1, comprising a track for said moving body, in which the portion of said endless belt ahead of said nip is twisted in the sense whereby the nip point at the edge of the belt and said one pulley remote from said track is situated ahead of the nip point at the opposite edge of-the belt and the said nip widens from the said remote edge towards the said track.

4. In a textile machine the device as claimed in claim 1 comprising a track for said moving body, wherein said means for guiding the said end of the length of yarn into said nip device comprises at least one jet nozzle directed across said track into said nip for blowing the said end of the yarn from said moving body into said nip.

5. The device as claimed in claim 4 in which said at least one jet nozzle is directed parallel to the axis of rotation of said one pulley.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,787,491 1/1931 Primavesi 139l2 X 2,799,295 7/1957 Juillard et a1 139-12 2,845,093 7/ 1958 Dietzsch et a1 139-12 3,050,088 8/1962 Schaffer 139194 X FOREIGN PATENTS 605,475 7/ 1948 Great Britain. 1,227,995 3/ 1960 France. 1,237,034 6/1960 France.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A TEXTILE MACHINE, A DEVICE FOR PICKING UP, DISPLACING AND RETAINING ONE END OF A LENGTH OF YARN FROM A MOVING BODY, WHICH DEVICE COMPRISES AT LEAST TWO PULLEYS AN ENDLESS BELT RUNNING OVER SAID PULLEYS AND FORMING A NIP GUIDING THE SAID END OF THE LENGTH OF YARN INTO THE SAID NIP. 